Following Tucson’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day march on Monday, January 17, 10 people carried Dr. King’s message to nearby Davis–Monthan Air Force Base for a peace vigil to honor his legacy twenty years after the United States began its war against Iraq.

Three men – Dennis DuVall, John Heid, and Jean Boucher – walked into the base with messages for base personnel opposing depleted uranium munitions and armed drones.

They were stopped at the gate by military police who repeatedly asked the men to turn around and leave. When each of them declined, Tucson police were summoned. DuVall, Heid, and Boucher were arrested, taken into custody, and later released on their own recognizance from the Pima County Jail.

After nonviolence training, 12 activists risked arrest by symbolically closing the Trigger Avenue gate during the afternoon shift change as an act of resistance to Trident, a nuclear “first strike” weapons system. Blocking traffic symbolizes stopping the horrific threat of Trident missiles, for a short time.

Rosy Betz-Zall, 60; Anne Hall, 65; Larry Kerschner, 64; Brenda McMillan, 77; Denny Moore, 66; and Shirley Morrison, 88, walked onto Trigger Avenue with a banner reading “BILLIONS FOR LIFE, NOT BILLIONS FOR DEATH.” Kitsap County Sheriffs arrested the six protesters. After initial processing they were transported by Sheriff’s van to the Kitsap County Jail for further processing. They were issued citations for blocking traffic and released.

Women ring in new year calling for Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to be shut down

Ringing in the new year on Saturday, January 1 by bringing solar panels to replace nuclear energy at Entergy’s Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vermont, nine women of the Shut It Down Affinity Group faced charges of unlawful trespass when town and state police arrested them just before two in the afternoon for blocking Entergy’s driveway.

Police booked the women and released them pending a February 28 court appearance in Windham County District Court in Brattleboro. It was Shut It Down’s eleventh witness against nuclear power at Vermont Yankee since the women began appearing there in December, 2005. Despite the women’s repeated insistence that they would appreciate follow-through on a court date, the state’s attorney has dropped all previous charges.

Your help is needed in pressing the following demands: End the inhumane, degrading conditions of pre-trial confinement and respect Bradley’s human rights. Specifically, lift the “Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order”. This would allow Bradley meaningful physical exercise, uninterrupted sleep during the night, and a release from isolation. We are not asking for “special treatment”. In fact, we are demanding an immediate end to the special treatment.

THIS JUST IN: Two hundred supporters protested outside of the Quantico, Virginia brig on January 17, 2011, in order to rally in support of Bradley Manning and oppose the inhumane conditions of his pre-trial confinement.

Once again, the justice system’s complicity with the abuses taught at the School of the Americas was exposed on January 5 at the trial of anti-militarization activists Nancy Smith and Chris Spicer. Nancy, from New York, changed her plea to no contest and was immediately sentenced to 6 months in prison by Magistrate Judge Stephen Hyles. In the SOA Watch tradition of using the court to put a spotlight on the SOA/WHINSEC, Nancy affirmed that she “felt a strong moral imperative” to carry out her nonviolent act of civil disobedience “on behalf of those who have suffered so terribly”.

Chris, from Illinois, plead not guilty but was declared guilty by Judge Hyles and sentenced likewise to 6 months. In his closing statement before sentencing, Chris addressed the ongoing human rights abuses in Latin America carried out by graduates of the School of the Americas, and his need to confront the “paralysis of fear” that has gripped the country in recent times.

The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee urgently calls upon all supporters to contact the White House to demand Leonard Peltier be immediately transferred to the Mayo Clinic for a full medical evaluation and appropriate treatment. [White House comment line – 202-456-1111]

As many of you know, Leonard has exhibited symptoms of prostate cancer for over a year. After months of pressure by attorneys, Leonard underwent blood tests in June of 2010. Those results were not made available until early November 2010. A biopsy was indicated which was ordered by a physician and approved by the prison. However, the biopsy has not been performed. The delay in testing, diagnosis, and treatment is unacceptable and constitutes medical neglect.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE
April 26, 2011, 25th Chernobyl anniversary

It’s time for groups and activists all over the world to plan protests and actions to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe.

Each year, the French anti-nuclear network Sortir du nucleaire has issued a call to action on Chernobyl Day. In support of this call, U.S. organizations Nukewatch and the Nuclear Resister invite you to organize public protest and/or nonviolent direct action/civil resistance in your area, or participate in other events or actions being planned on or around April 26. It will be a day to declare, together with millions of others around the world, NO to nuclear power, nuclear weapons, nuclear testing, uranium mining and radioactive waste and YES to a nuclear-free future!

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